Fishponds railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Fishponds
gridref = ST635755


caption = Fishponds railway station in 1972
manager = Midland Railway
owner = London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways
locale = Fishponds
borough = Bristol
platforms = 2
years = 1 March 1866
events = Opened (Fish Ponds)
years1 = 1 April 1866
events1 = Renamed (Stapleton)
years2 = 1 January 1867
events2 = Renamed (Fish Ponds)
years3 = 1 May 1939
events3 = Renamed (Fishponds)
years4 = 7 March 1966
events4 = Closed

Fishponds railway station was a station in Fishponds, Bristol, England, a victim of Dr Beeching's cuts in the 1960s.

Fishponds station was just south of where Wm Morrison's supermarket car park is today. The railway line was built in 1835 for transport of coal from Coalpit Heath to industry in the centre of Bristol. The station, named Stapleton Halt, was opened on 1 April 1866, and was part of the Bristol to Birmingham line operated by the Midland Railway. The station was renamed Fishponds on 1 July 1867, and had two platforms plus a shunting line constructed in 1905 for the Avonside Locomotive Works to move their newly built locomotives onto the main line.

The Network

The stations at the Bristol end of the Midland line were St Philips (where it ended within walking distance of Temple Meads), then Fishponds, Staple Hill and Mangotsfield. At Mangotsfield the lines split, and passengers could continue onto Gloucester past Parkfield Colliery and Coalpit Heath, and or through Warmley, Oldland Common and Bitton when the Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line was opened in 1869. There was also a spur to Clifton Down built in 1874. This was augmented by the Bristol Tramway which operated from Old Market to Fishponds tram terminus from 1897 to 1941.

Closure

The line was part of Dr Beeching's railway closures in the 1960s. Stopping services on the Bristol to Gloucester line ceased along with general goods traffic on 17 May 1965, and the station then closed to all goods traffic on 31 December 1965. But trains continued between Bristol and Bath Green Park until 7 March 1966. The signal box remained open until 12 April 1968, when most of the station buildings where demolished. The line through the station was due to close on 3 January 1970, but a landslip at nearby Staple Hill led to its closure a week early. The tracks were later removed. There are still remains including the stairs to the footbridge (the "stairs to nowhere") on the Bristol side. The line was converted into the Bristol & Bath Railway Path which was completed in 1986, though the trail through the Fishponds station site deviates from the original rail line because of the roads associated with a huge supermarket on adjoining land.

ervices

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References

*Peter Aughton (2007). "Bristol: A People's History."
*John Bartlett (2004). "Images of England, Fishponds."

External links

* [http://fishponds.org.uk/ Fishponds Local History Society]
* [http://www.bristolbathrailwaypath.org.uk/theoldrailway.shtml/ Bristol & Bath Railway Path]